Product description

In 1910, Stephen Wraysford is sent to Amiens. There he meets the unhappily married Isabelle Azaire and begins an all-consuming love affair. Six years later, he returns to France as a soldier on the Western Front, where, in scenes of unprecedented horror, he struggles to find a reason to continue living. Profoundly moving, ultimately transcendent, Birdsong has been a revelation to generations of readers.

Author information

Sebastian Faulks was born and brought up in Newbury, Berkshire. He worked in journalism before starting to write books. He is best known for the French trilogy, The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong and Charlotte Gray (1989-1997) and is also the author of a triple biography, The Fatal Englishman (1996); a small book of literary parodies, Pistache (2006); and the novels Human Traces (2005) and Engleby (2007). He lives in London with his wife and their three children.

Review quote

"An overpowering and beautiful novel... Ambitious, outrageous, poignant, sleep-disturbing, Birdsong is not a perfect novel, just a great one" -- Simon Schama New Yorker "Magnificent - deeply moving" Sunday Times "Engrossing, moving, and unforgettable" The Times "I have read it and re-read it and can think of no other novel for many, many years that has so moved me or stimulated in me so much reflection on the human spirit" Daily Mail "With Birdsong Faulks has produced a mesmerizing story of love and war... This book is so powerful that as I finished it I turned to the front to start again" Sunday Express